Dispensing container



June 6, 1950 E. B. DUELL DISPENSING CONTAINER Filed Sept. 11, 1947 Patented June 6, 1950 UNITED PATENT OFFICE DISPENSING CONTAINER :Edith B. Dne'll, Sharpsburg, Pa.

Appiicationseptember 11. 1947, Serial No. 713,339

( Cl. ZOE-42 3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in dispensing containers of 'th'e general type disclosed in United States Letters Patent Nos. 1,958,101 and 13962;:360 wherein one of a plurality of articles is segregated for removal from the container each time the cover is moved to open position.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a container of this general type but adapted tobe used with elongated cylindrical objects, primarily capsules, and is directed to improvements =a capsule-type container such as disclosed in my United States Letters Patent No. 2,378,004.

As an article to be dispensed, capsules create many "problems in providing a satisfactory dispensing type container. Due to their unsymmetrical shape, they are difiicult to position within the dispensing section of the container and also are more apt to take up a position which causes interference or Ziamming between a capsule and the operating parts of the container. With capsules, jamming, or even a possibility thereof, is a much more serious objection than with other articles because a capsule is easily broken and usually contains distasteful ingredients, so that if -one :capsule in a container is broken, the remaining :ones are rendered practically unusable.

The construction of former patent, No. 2,378,004, did offer a solution to the problem of properly positioning the capsule to be'dispensed,

but after extensive tests, it was found that occasionally acapsule would find a jamming position, and if the user did not recognize this when first opening the container, that capsule would be crushed, spoiling the entirecontents .of the box.

The principal object-of the present invention is .to provide a dispensingoontainer, particularly adapted for use with capsules, wherein a -singlearticle dispensing action is incorporated, this dispensing action :beingsuch that .an article cannot become jammed and destroyed thereby.

A further object is to zprovidesan improved and simplified means for positioning-anunsymmetrically dimensioned article in the dispensing sectionof'the-container.

Another object is to provide a dispensing container whereinan article i cannot become jammed in the dispensing action in such :a way as to interfere with.theroperationthereoi and prevent the removal from the container oi'an articlealready positioned within the dispensing portion thereof.

'Otherobjects and advantages of the invention will appear irom the i-following description of the invention and the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is .a plan View of a container constructed in accordance with the present invention;

{Fig ;2 is a sectional view taken longitudinally of the container along the staggered section line 2+2 o'fFigJl;

'Eig. '3 is a plan view of the container with the cover open and partially broken away; and

Fig. ,4 is va sectional view taken transversely of the container .along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

The container of the present invention is of the same .outward construction as the container shown in the aforementioned Letters Patent No. 2,378,004 and consists of a shallow receptacle or box having a bottom H, side walls ['2 and end walls 153. A cover 14 "is sl'idably mounted on the box 10 by the provision of outwardly projecting flanges 15 along the'upper edge of the side walls [2 of theboxwhich flanges are engaged by channels I6 .Iormed byturning the longitudinal edges ll .of the cover downwardly and inwardly.

.Free sliding movement of the cover to open position is initially partially restrained by a small projection I-9 which is positioned on the inner surface of the :cover so as to engage the top of an end wall and act as a friction latch to hold the cover in closed position. A small lug or stop ['8 extends inwardly from one of the side walls and operates to define the open position of the cover in a manner that will be presently described.

As may be seen {from a consideration of the patents :previously enumerated, all dispensing containers of this type achieve their dispensing action by having a dispensing pocket formed by including a barrienmember within-the container and by providing a second member or rake which is movable with the cover of the container so as to operate to remove all but the number of articles to be dispensed from the dispensing pocket and at the same time cooperate with the barrier member to separate the dispensing pocket from the rest of the container so that no other article can enter the dispensing pocket when the cover isopened.

Generally speaking, this broad statement is also true of the dispensing container of the present application, for a barrier -20 is provided extending inwardly from one-of the side walls l2 and V the cover 14 is equipped with adownwardly projecting rake 2i- -IIowever, these two elements, the "barrier '20 and the rake 2|, have important changes from the comparable elements of prior patents. These changes are responsible':for the successful dispensing action of the present container, and consist in a new set of relationships in dimension, form, and positioning between the barrier, the rake and the article being dispensed, and may be expressed as follows: In the container, the dispensing pocket occupies a corner 22 thereof and is bounded by a portion of an end wall [3 and side wall [2 and by the barrier member 20 which is curved or flared away from the end wall l3 in such a way that the width of the mouth of the dispensing pocket is more than half the length of one of the capsules being dispensed but less than the total length thereof, while the end of the pocket adjacent the side wall l2 of the container is but slightly wider than the diameter of one of the capsules, This tapered shape and dimensioning of the dispensing pocket provides for easy entrance of the capsules thereto and for correct positioning of the capsules therein because it is impossible for a capsule to occupy the pocket in any other but a substantially lengthwise position. Another feature of the barrier 2|] is that it projects into the container a distance less than the length of a capsule. This distance, which may be termed the length of the barrier, is also related to the position of the rake 2! so that when the cover of the box is opened and the rake lies adjacent the tip 23 of the barrier, then the distance between the end 24 of the rake and the tip 23 of the barrier is slightly less than the diameter of a capsule.

When these dimensional relationships and limitations are incorporated in the dispensing container, i. e., the flared or tapered dispensing pocket, the width of the mouth of the dispensing pocket, the length of the barrier relative to the length of a capsule and the distance or clearance between the barrier and the rake, the dispensing action of the container becomes consistently positive, the possibility of jamming is reduced to a minimum, and if jamming does occur, it will not cause the destruction of a capsule.

A slight shake of the container is usually sufficient to cause a capsule to enter the dispensing pocket. If this capsule comes into the pocket in any other than a lengthwise position, it will rotate to such a position upon coming in contact with the tip 23 of the barrier 20 because the center of gravity of the capsule will overhang the dispensing pocket due to the mouth of the pocket being made wider than one half the capsules length. The cover of the container is then opened until its sliding movement is restrained by the rake 2| of the cover abutting against the stop l8 on the side wall of the box, as shown in Fig. 3, and the capsule 25 is then exposed for removal. Ordinarily, as the cover is slid to open position, the end 24 of the rake 2!, which end is preferably rounded as shown in the drawings, will engage any other capsule 26 that has partially entered the dispensing pocket and will cause such capsule to slide rearwardly and inwardly along the curved surface of the barrier 20, thus removing such capsule from the pocket. The fact that the barrier is made shorter than the length of a capsule reduces the possibility of jamming during this removing action of the rake because it reduces the size of the dispensing pocket and hence the extent to which a second capsule can enter such pocket. However, the removing action of the rake may in occasional instances not take place in this ideal manner, either because of the initial position of the capsule 26 before the cover is opened, or because the container and capsules are warm and sticky, and then this capsule 26 will jam between the end of the rake and the tip of the barrier. Such jamming, however, will have no harmful effect upon either the dispensing action or upon the jammed capsule due to the clearance between the end of the rake and tip of the barrier being only slightly less than the diameter of a capsule. In other words, this space is just small enough to prevent other capsules from entering the dispensing pocket but great enough so that a jammed capsule will be merely squeezed and not crushed and will not prevent the cover of the container from being moved to open position for removal of a capsule in the dispensing pocket.

Another feature which contributes to preventing a jammed capsule from being damaged is the fact that when the cover is in open position the barrier 20 extends back into the container beyond the location of the rake 2 I. In other words, the plane defined by the transverse surface of the rake 2i intersects the barrier inwardly from the end thereof or at an intermediate portion thereof. This, in combination with the edge 24 of the rake adjacent the barrier being rounded, means that a jammed capsule would be squeezed between two surfaces rather than between sharp edges.

While the above description and drawings relate to a particular embodiment of the present invention, it will be readily understood that numerous changes in the detailed construction could be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as described in the following claims:

I claim:

1. A dispensing container adapted for use with elongated articles having a cover limitally slidable to uncover a portion of said container, a barrier extending substantially transversely of said container and forming with adjacent side and end walls of said container a dispensing pocket, a rake carried by said cover and coacting with said barrier to separate said dispensing pocket from the remaining portion of said container when said cover is in open position, characterized by said dispensing pocket being dimensioned to contain but a single article, said barrier being substantially equal in length to the length of an article, and the end of said rake adjacent said barrier being spaced therefrom a distance slightly less than the width of an article when said cover is moved to opened position.

2. A dispensing container adapted for use with elongated articles having a cover limitally slidable to uncover a portion of said container, a barrier extending substantially transversely of said containe and forming with adjacent side and end walls of said container a dispensing pocket, a rake carried by said cover and coacting with said barrier to separate said dispensing pocket from the remaining portion of said container when said cover is in open position, characterized by said dispensing pocket having a length substantially equal to the length of an article, the mouth of said dispensing pocket having a width greater than one-half the length of an article but less than, the entire length thereof, the body of said dispensing pocket being slightly wider than the width of an article, and the inner end of said barrier being separated from the adjacent end of said rake when said cover is in.

opened position by a distance slightly less than the width of an article.

3. In combination with an elongated article, a

dispensing container therefor having a cover limtainer, a barrier extending substantially trans versely of said container and forming with adjacent side and end walls of said container a dispensing pocket, a rake carried by said cover and coacting with said barrier to separate said dispensing pocket from the remaining portion of said container when said cover is in opened position, said dispensing pocket being dimensioned to contain one of said articles, said barrier being substantially equal in length to the length of said article, and the end of said rake adjacent said barrier being spaced therefrom a distance slightly less than the width of said article when said cover is moved to opened position.

EDITH B. DUEIL 8 REFERENCES orrnn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Beckstrom Oct. 8, 1946 

